For those of you that are going to friends and family for Thanksgiving, how will you be dealing with the GFD and possible CC?

I am supposed to go to my mother's for our meal. She's three hours away, so just eating when we get back home is not an option. She will be cooking at my step-father's house, who probably hasn't even been informed of my issues. He has offered to buy the groceries. My mother still thinks that this is just a fad diet for me, not a life long process. I was thinking that I would at least be able to have potatoes and veggies but my mother puts butter on everything and I can't do any form of dairy.

Would you go ahead and risk upsetting everybody by bringing your own food to heat up while you are there? I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings but I don't want to make myself sick either, especially with a three hour car ride home. Not really in the mood to hit up every rest stop between her house and mine.

Bring your own. They have no right to be upset that you are doing what you need to do in order to take care of your health. If you bake, make a gluten-free pie or other dish to share. Just make sure you serve yourself first.

Enjoy your family! Mine is gone now and I miss them so much, especially at Thanksgiving. It was always my favorite holiday. My gluten-free Mom always did the cooking, some gluten-free and some not. We had grandparents from both side, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. There were usually anywhere between 14 and 26 people there. After dinner and cleanup there were card and other games, music and singing, great conversation, more food of course, and so much love in the room!

I wish you and everyone else here the warmest, most loving, and most Thankful Thanksgiving yet!

1

gluten-free since June, 2011

It took 3 !/2 years but my intolerances to corn, soy, and everything else (except gluten) are gone!

Absolutely bring your own food, along with printed information regarding Celiac Disease to leave with her when you leave.

If you tell her in advance, be simple and clear. Ingesting gluten is harmful to my health. Even minute amounts of gluten cause my immune system to destroy my digestive system which leads to serious health problems. I am not asking for your help - only understanding that this is the way I must eat every day - Celiac Disease observes no holidays. While I am looking forward to our time together, I will provide my own food.

Try to bring your meal as ready to go as possible. I usually bring a beautiful salad to others homes - for a holiday I would bring a nice meal as close to what is being served - heat it in the microwave - if the table is set formally I transfer to my host's china and change the subject away from my food unless the person asking is actually curious then I either answer their question or let them know I will be happy to answer their questions after the meal.

Maybe offer to bring the mashed potatoes, cornbread or wild rice stuffing or pumpkin pie? Most people are pleasantly surprised at how good gluten-free food really is.

Bring your own meal. I also agree that bring a gluten free dish to share with everyone (with your own portion out already) is a great idea so people can see gluten free is delicious too is a great idea.

Offended? That you are A: taking care of your health and B: came for the family and not the food? I'm not going home for Thanksgiving because it is 2000 miles for me but if my family did that it would be my very last family holiday. Holidays are about supposed to be about family. The food is a nice side effect of that, not the focus.

An alternative that is far too late for this year but a possible alternative for next year. I love to cook, if you do also you can opt to host a holiday. Make it clear that under no circumstances is anyone to bring anything. Honestly, I did cancel my holidays but only because I have no family to invite that aren't a bunch of ingrates who eat and leave without valuing family togetherness. (And because they'd beeline for the pantry and contaminate my entire dinner and leftovers, I don't have the money to spend on one huge meal just to throw it out or send it home with other people.) But, if it is the sort of thing you'd be into doing I would certainly say go for it next year.

Take your own. If you were paralzed, you would bring your own chair. Would that insult anyone?

Just tell them you are rather limited on what your doctor allows you to eat right now but you are feeling soooo much better. I even have a note from the doctor that says "She must bring her own food". (Meant for things like football stadiums but could work for you). "No, thank you." everytime they offer something. You can even say you are sad as thier pie, dressing, etc is always so delicious.

If you bring a dish to share, keep some in a separate container for yourself. I wouldn't want to watch the kitchen & table like a hawk until dinner to make sure I got the first serving, someone didn't stick the gravy spoon in my potato dish, etc.

0

"We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English."

Winston Churchill

May your glass be ever full. May the roof over your head be always strong. And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead.

Thank you all for your responses. I figure I'll take a couple of pumpkin pies and some almond coconut macaroons for everybody to share. Although, I think I'll put some aside for just myself, to have with my coffee. I'll also figure out some food that I can reheat in the microwave. If they don't like it, I guess they can just get over themselves.

For those of you that are going to friends and family for Thanksgiving, how will you be dealing with the GFD and possible CC?

I am supposed to go to my mother's for our meal. She's three hours away, so just eating when we get back home is not an option. She will be cooking at my step-father's house, who probably hasn't even been informed of my issues. He has offered to buy the groceries. My mother still thinks that this is just a fad diet for me, not a life long process. I was thinking that I would at least be able to have potatoes and veggies but my mother puts butter on everything and I can't do any form of dairy.

Would you go ahead and risk upsetting everybody by bringing your own food to heat up while you are there? I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings but I don't want to make myself sick either, especially with a three hour car ride home. Not really in the mood to hit up every rest stop between her house and mine.

I would absolutely bring my own food to heat up there. No question about it.

True story - a number of years ago, my husband and I joined my inlaws at their friend's house for thanksgiving. The lady cooking loved cooking, and did her best to research how to make some items gluten and dairy free. She was telling me about using margarine in the mashed potatoes so it wouldn't have dairy and I picked up the can of organic swanson's chicken broth she had also added. Turns out, that is one of the few broths that contains wheat. I couldn't eat the potatoes.

if people want to get butt-hurt that you're not willing to make yourself sick for the sake of their own sensitive souls.... well, that's their problem.

(I'm only being moderately tongue in cheek - family, REAL family, doesn't take offense to someone taking care of themselves.)

I agree with go ahead and bring your own. I would if I had too. Thankfully, my Sis in law is also Celiac and she cooks dinner every year. I would die if I had to eat at my mother's, she still thinks Gluten free either means Sugar free, or that we can ONLY eat whole wheat. AY yi yi!!

My sis in law was diagnosed WAY before me and she always brought her own food to cookouts, parties and Christmas Eve dinner, which we have at another family member's house. You would rather eat than starve, yes? So bring some food.

I have been invited to friends for Thanksgiving, and I am following a very strict diet because of a combination of multiple (eek!) thyroid disorders and GI issues, even if it seems I may have NCGS, rather than celiac. I do feel a lot better off gluten. But I am also avoiding soy, canola, millet, almonds, peanuts, strawberries et cetera,

Is it obnoxious to "bring my own" food even if I am not diagnosed with celiac disease? I really don't know how to explain to my friends that it's not just in my head, and that eating "normally" means I'll have to occupy either their, ahem, restroom for hours, or their couch, staring at the walls in dizziness and confusion...

I also have to be there for three days, and it's a 6-hour trip there, so it is difficult even to bring stuff

I have been invited to friends for Thanksgiving, and I am following a very strict diet because of a combination of multiple (eek!) thyroid disorders and GI issues, even if it seems I may have NCGS, rather than celiac. I do feel a lot better off gluten. But I am also avoiding soy, canola, millet, almonds, peanuts, strawberries et cetera,

Is it obnoxious to "bring my own" food even if I am not diagnosed with celiac disease? I really don't know how to explain to my friends that it's not just in my head, and that eating "normally" means I'll have to occupy either their, ahem, restroom for hours, or their couch, staring at the walls in dizziness and confusion...

I also have to be there for three days, and it's a 6-hour trip there, so it is difficult even to bring stuff

Yes, you bring your own too. You keep it simple....you have had some serious health problems that are related to food intolerance. Regardless of NCGI or Celiac, If you eat the items you are currently avoiding you will become ill. If these are folks that want specific info and you feel comfortable sharing then explain how thyroid, digestive and autoimmune diseases are all strongly related and the "fun" symptoms you will have if you are not careful. You wish to spend as much time with them as possible without becoming ill.

I find it easier to bring most of my food along from home for short trips, but ALWAYS check which stores are available wherever I travel so that I can stop and get fresh items whenever I please. I also keep my food in plain grocery bags in the most out of the way spot in my host's fridge and try to prepare very simple items. I even bring my own knife and small cutting board in the pockets of my soft cooler to slice and dice quick snacks without having to wash dishes in order to eat.

If you are matter of fact and self sufficient everyone adapts pretty quickly - at least this is what I've experienced.

Safe travels and Happy Thanksgiving to you

Oh...if you don't already take them, be sure to bring some digestive enzymes along.

Thank you! I feel a bit better now. Though I have improved, I still struggle not having to justify why I eat the way I do. It is a very charged topic for me, because at the onset of my autoimmune disease no one - friends, doctors - believed I was sick and they just insisted I had an ED, and I "ate like a rabbit" - because eating leafy greens and simple food is part of the cultural heritage of the poor, rural area I come from.

Even if I am overweight now, and having always been known as a connoisseur and a great cook, I still feel like I have to justify myself, probably because such misconception was, in my case, almost lethal, because they let me get to a BMI of 13 before someone did blood tests.